Orgy on the Great Barrier Reef. That sounds spectacular. (It’s not what you think.)

In case you’ve ever wondered what the New Zealand rugby team are saying when they do their scary ass war chant, this site has everything you need to know about the haka. Other than the whole “I die! I die! I live! I live!” bit, it’s really not as intimidating as it sounds.

Are you going to be in London from December ’03 to March ’04? You lucky jerk. You get to go see Giles in Peter Pan and The Pirates of Penzance! (Thanks to Jenny for the link.)

On a related note, the Snook mentioned that Ian McKellen’s going to be doing an upcoming play here at the Opera House. Fun! I actually saw him as Captain Hook in Peter Pan in London in the spring of ’98. He was fantastic, as you might expect.

The Apple Music Store is TIME’s Coolest Invention of 2003!

The Australian government has officially dropped information technology from its list of “in demand” skills. Back when I immigrated, you’d get bonus points on your application if you had IT experience. Not anymore! I guess they’re finally realizing that the tech job market over here really does suck right now.

Attention Chicagoans. Apparently Marshall Field’s is using “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” for the theme of its Christmas windows this year. I’d love to get some pictures for my Dahl site. Any volunteers willing/able to take some and e-mail them to me?

Daring Fireball has a good overview of text rendering in Panther for us Mac people. As the extent of my typographic knowledge is recognizing Comic Sans misuse, I appreciated the explanation of why reading text on computer displays just plain sucks.

“Remember the wounded.” This is an excellent essay about the effects combat has on humans. Did you all pause for reflection at 11:00 yesterday? Living abroad, I’ve been surprised at the public support for Remembrance Day. Sure, we celebrate Veterans Day in America, but most folks just look at it as a day off. You might go to a cemetery if your grandpa was a soldier or something, but it’s not a big deal. In the UK and Australia it’s very different. Various veterans groups sell poppies on every street corner. People actually make a point of stopping what they’re doing at 11:00 to reflect. We don’t get the day off but in a way that’s good; it keeps the meaning from getting watered down. (We get ANZAC Day off in January and I’ve come to associate that day more with barbecues than memorializing the diggers.) It was just surprising to me how much more seriously the rest of the world takes the holiday, one that in the US didn’t mean a heck of a lot to me.

“Let Them Eat War.” Why do the very Americans who have been hurt the most by George W. Bush’s policies still support his presidency? As someone from a predominantly working class – yet staunchly Republican – part of the country, this is the kind of stuff I wonder about.

Matt linked to a fascinating essay on politically-incorrect cartoons. It’s hard to believe that Bugs Bunny cartoons were ever that blatantly racist and that general audiences just accepted it. I was immediately reminded of Mickey Rooney’s character in Breakfast at Tiffany’s and this excellent article on the history of “yellowface” in the cinema. Man, this stuff makes me wish I was back doing Film Studies at uni!